With Stakes At a High, Yankees Near a Low
TORONTO - There may be some complex equations and intricate algorithms to prove the Yankees still have a mathematical chance to reach the playoffs. But the visible evidence tells a different story.
Needing a win to keep up momentum after an emotional victory the night before, they instead endured a 6-2 loss to the last-place Toronto Blue Jays Thursday night at Rogers Centre. Instead of playing like a legitimate playoff contender, the Yankees looked more like a team playing out the string.
With injuries and exhaustion bearing down on them, the Yankees managed only five hits, and Hiroki Kuroda, the starting pitcher, once again failed to provide the kind of crisp, dominating performance the Yankees have lacked in the final weeks of the season.
Then, with the Yankees trailing by two runs in the seventh, Manager Joe Girardi went to the bullpen and summoned Joba Chamberlain, who has not pitched well most of the year. Chamberlain has been used mostly in mop-up situations, but this game was still competitive, and the season was perhaps hanging in the balance, at least until Chamberlain arrived on the mound.
He promptly gave up a leadoff walk, a single and a three-run home run to Adam Lind to put the game out of reach. Anthony Gose, Toronto's No. 9 hitter, had a single, a double and a home run and scored two runs.
The Yankees put together a modest rally in the ninth to score one run, but it was far too late.
Before the game, Girardi said the Yankees were still alive in the chase for a wild-card spot, but he noted they would need help from other teams since there were two teams ahead of them.
'It's amazing how quickly the wild-card picture can change every three or four days,' he said while watching batting practice. 'It changes every three or four days.'
The loss left the Yankees in danger of falling four games behind the American League wild-card leaders with only nine games remaining, and they finished a critical road trip with a 4-6 record and lost the series to the Blue Jays.
Among the many contributing factors to the Yankees' late-season difficulties have been injuries and the problems with their normally dependable starting pitchers like C. C. Sabathia and Kuroda.
But no one's downfall has come as suddenly as Kuroda's. On Aug. 12 he threw eight shutout innings against the Los Angeles Angels, allowing only three hits, and his earned run average fell to 2.41, among the best in baseball.
But after that game Kuroda went from being one of the best pitchers in baseball to one of the least effective. Since that outing against the Angels, Kuroda has gone 0-5 with a 6.62 earned run average
On Thursday, with the Yankees in another desperate situation, he pitched with runners on base throughout his six-inning effort. He was in trouble in virtually every inning until the fifth, when he recorded his first 1-2-3 frame, but he then gave up a home run in the sixth.
Despite all the base runners, Kuroda escaped damage through the first two innings, but in the third the Blue Jays posted two runs in a rally that began with Gose.
Leading off, Gose singled to left field and then scored when the next batter, Jose Reyes, doubled on a line drive to center. The Jays weren't only getting hits, they were striking balls hard.
Munenori Kawasaki sacrificed Reyes to third base and he scored Toronto's second run on a slow tapper to third base by Lawrie. Things grew even more precarious for Kuroda, who walked three batters before finally striking out Ryan Goins with the bases loaded.
In the fourth the Blue Jays had runners at first and second with one out after Gose doubled to right and Reyes walked. Kuroda zeroed in and got Kawasaki to ground out and then, with the runners now at second and third, he struck out Brett Lawrie to end the inning.
The Yankees didn't score until the fifth inning, when Curtis Granderson homered to right field, attacking a 1-2 fastball that was up in the zone and driving it into the seats in right field for his seventh home run.
Alex Rodriguez followed him and tapped out to short, making him 1 for 19 since the end of the series against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 12, and ending the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth the Jays got the run back on Gose's home run after Kuroda had struck out the first two batters. In the seventh, they blew it open with Lind's blast, a hit that had the feel of a fateful blow.
INSIDE PITCH
BRETT GARDNER continued to receive treatment for his strained oblique muscle, but JOE GIRARDI said he didn't expect Gardner to be able to play in the Yankees upcoming homestand. ... ALEX RODRIGUEZ could stay at designated hitter for the rest of the season as he continues to recover from hamstring and calf strains. ... AUSTIN ROMINE said the symptoms from his concussion are still bothering him.
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